A year after setting up an alternative investments desk to cover the secondary hedge fund sales market, Tullett Prebon is going primary.

The interdealer broker plans to begin fundraising for hedge funds and private equity funds, hiring Axiom Alternative Fund’s Gahtan Vahidy to head the new venture. Tullett said it aims to “attract blue chip clients to its brand.”

“Following a very active first year of trading we are now very excited about broadening our business and leveraging our network further to support funds in their asset-raising activities,” Neil Campbell, head of Tullett’s alternatives desk, said.

Campbell and Vahidy worked together at Axiom, a fund of hedge funds. Vahidy is also a former strategy consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

From the current issue of

The testimony of former FBI Director James Comey came and went with more hype than harm to Donald Trump’s administration. The more important issue is whether Congress spent too much political capital to get comprehensive tax reform done by the end of 2017. The likelihood of significant policy changes is fleeting for the year. Some economists are even losing hope that tax reform will be completed by the midterm elections of 2018.